Fair Trade

Disclaimer: I got a new pair of shoes yesterday. They’re all dressy for interviews and stuff. Yay!
IMPORTANT!!!! Sentences incased with (( )) symbolizes that the voice is being heard from a distance.

You’ve Done It Again

It was warm inside the hut, and cozy. There was nothing significantly special about it, but it was the preferred place to be at any given moment. Well, almost any given moment. Right now was –not- one of those moments.

“She’s here.”

“I know.”

“Right now.”

“I know.”

“Again.”

No answer this time. Her companions stared at nothing, lost in their own thoughts. A stick could be heard scratching the ground out of boredom.

Suddenly she looked up to her first companion.

“Why do you think she came back?”

A lecherous grin broke the seriousness of the conversation, and an old sigh could be heard from the third companion, followed by a slight laugh.

“You’ve done it again, Miroku,” said Kaede.

“I don’t think that’s –really- why, I was just trying to lighten the mood.”

Sango sat up straight and crossed her arms in frustration, “Well right now is not a time to ‘lighten the mood;’ Kikyou is by the well, with Inuyasha, and she hasn’t left yet! What is he thinking, keeping her around like that?! After everything she’s done! And on top of that, Kagome is coming home today!”

“Yes, but maybe it would be best if-“

“We interfere? I think that’s a great idea!” Sango jumped up and started towards her new destination only to be pulled back by the wrist.

“Oh, come on Miroku! It’s almost dark and Kagome is going to be back soon! Come to think of it, she should have been back already.”

“I know…it’s just that nothing seems to be wrong yet. I don’t feel anything right now, at least.”

“Well I do! She’s going to come back through the well and Inuyasha is going to be doing something stupid as usual, but this time something is going to go wrong. I just know it!”

“Sango is right, Miroku. I cannot ignore the feeling that something is going to go terribly wrong.”

Miroku traced figures in the dirt with his staff and stared at them in contemplation. He knew they were right, and that he shouldn’t push off his own feelings that something was going to happen. But he also knew that whether they were there or not, this bad thing was going to occur.

“Okay, we’ll make our way to the well at dark. But I don’t think that it is going to help prevent whatever it is.”

Sango jumped up and hugged him. “Great! It took you so long to come to your senses its dark already! So come on,” and with that she pulled him out of the hut.

* * * *

It wasn’t long before they became within hearing distance of the well.

((“I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT I AM SEEING!”))

“Kagome’s back,” Sango exclaimed.

“Yeah, and from the sounds of it she caught Inuyasha doing something –really- stupid.”

((“Sit, Inuyasha! SIT!!!”))

“Well Inuyasha, you’ve done it again,” Miroku mumbled to himself. “You know, I was waiting for that,” he added, while sliding his arm casually over Sango’s shoulders.

“And –I’ve- been waiting for –you- to mess up again!” In one fluid movement Sango hit Miroku atop the head with her deadly boomerang.

“Honestly, Miroku, this is serious."

“I know it’s serious,” he exclaimed as he massaged his smarting head.

“I was just-“

((“Kikyou, what are you doing?”))

“Save it for later, something doesn’t sound right,” Sango whispered.

((“Let her go Inuyasha! You are not good enough for her! Besides, you are with –me-. Let her go!”))

((“Kikyou..? I have to go get her! She could get hurt!”))

((“If you take one more step, Inuyasha, my arrow will find its target.”))

“This definitely doesn’t sound good, Miroku.”

“I agree, we need to hurry. Can you call Kilala?”

“I don’t want to just stand here and wait, Mir-“

“Not to ride!” Miroku took hold of Sango’s arm and pulled her into a run towards the well. “We might need the help.”

((“I’m going to find her Kikyou.”))

“I have a really bad feeling about this; I think we’re too late,” said Miroku.

((“Damn it Kikyou, why can’t you just accept it?! Why…are you doing this?!”))


((“You will NOT leave me this time, Inuyasha!”))

Sango stopped suddenly and whipped around to face the opposite direction. Miroku nearly lost balance in surprise and was about to scowl when he saw Kilala flying straight for them with Kaede in tow. Kilala landed on the ground for Sango to hop on her back and bounded away again just as quickly, this time headed for Miroku, who jumped atop her as well.

They arrived at their destination within a matter of minutes, only to find that the situation was worse than they expected. Kagome was gone without a trace, Inuyasha was wounded by one of Kikyou’s arrows, and Kikyou was standing over Inuyasha with an arrow knocked and pointed at his chest.

Kilala landed some feet away from Inuyasha and Kikyou, and all three riders dismounted quickly. Sango and Miroku prepared to use their weapons, while Kaede stood frozen to the spot, taking in the scene before her.

‘You’ve done it again, Kikyou. You never fail to disappoint me now you’re in this state,’ Kaede thought to herself.

“Ye do not wish to be doing this, Kikyou. Inuyasha is not the one you should be so hateful of.”

Kikyou never shifted, save to express anger and annoyance.

“And why is that, younger sister? Do you believe that Naraku is the one I should hate?”

“Yes, damn it,” exclaimed Inuyasha as he attempted to stand.

Kikyou followed him with her arrow and stepped slightly closer.

“I don’t trust you or Naraku, you fool!” Her expression relaxed slightly to a menacing smile. “Shouldn’t you be looking for your precious Kagome? Why waste time on this half-breed when Kagome has run off, likely to never be seen the same way again.”

“What have you done, Kikyou,” Miroku yelled at her.

Sango threw her boomerang in a dead on path towards Kikyou. With lightning reflexes Kikyou shot the boomerang, throwing it to the ground on contact with miko energy.

Inuyasha took this chance to rip the arrow from his leg and jump towards Kikyou, who easily dodged him and sent Inuyasha hurtling towards Miroku and Sango.

“You are pathetic, all of you! Now it is definitely too late to save her.”

Kikyou sneered wickedly at them and pulled a small glass phial from her kimono.

“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon enough,” she whispered to them mockingly, then dropped the phial and vanished in a cloud of mist, leaving nothing behind.

* * * *

Kagome awoke from what seemed like hours of unwanted sleep. A breeze was blowing softly against her face and through her hair; a shoulder was under her stomach, and icy hands were on her legs to keep her from falling.

Being this close to Naraku made her use all her will power not to barf all down his back. The thought was tempting, and she would have laughed at the idea if it wasn’t for the fact that he would do something really horrible to get her back if she were to throw up on him. So instead, she decided to remain quiet and uncomfortable until she could figure out what to do.

This thought process didn’t last long, for within a matter of minutes they arrived in a small dark clearing surrounded by twisted, dead trees. Naraku stopped in the middle of the clearing, and tightened the grip on Kagome’s legs.

“I know you’re awake, girl!” He pulled her legs forward and swung her off his shoulder and onto the dirt.

Kagome hit the ground so hard she saw stars, and even though her eyes were open nothing came into focus. Her senses came back to her after a few seconds, and as her vision cleared she looked up to see Naraku a few feet away from her, smirking, and Kikyou a few feet away from him.

“Well that was rude, Naraku,” Kikyou said as she looked at Kagome.

“You think so? I found it very refreshing.”

Kikyou gave a slight snort and made her way towards Kagome. She stopped a few inches away from her, then kneeled down and picked Kagome up by her hair.

“I’m going to get my soul back, Kagome, and then you will be among the dead!” Kikyou whispered fiercely into Kagome’s ear. She dropped Kagome to the ground and drew her bow.

“That will not be necessary, Kikyou. You do not get her yet, so if you make one more move it will be your last,” Naraku sighed,”...again.”

Kikyou sneered in disappointment, and shot her arrow so it nearly hit Kagome, missing by mere centimeters.

“There now, that’s better. You can have her when I’m done with her.”

“I ought to kill you and take her for myself.”

Naraku paused to think over what Kikyou had stated, mocking her openly.

“You are right. You ought to. But you won’t, and further more you can’t. So make this easier on yourself and go visit Miss Silbera before you do anything stupid.”

Kikyou spat at him and produced a glass phial, which she dropped and vanished in a cloud of mist.

“Ahhh,” Naraku sighed, “she loves me.”

‘Eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwww,’ Kagome thought to herself.

“Death and Dirt do go good together,” she mumbled.

Naraku looked over to Kagome, not completely facing her, as if he heard her.

“You’ll love me, too, koi.”

“Don’t make me laugh, Naraku. You’re sick!”

Naraku backhanded her then yanked her up to face him.

“You’ll love me, Kagome, not only for who I am, but for what I’ve done for you. You will appreciate that I’ve let you live. You’re going to meet new people and experience new things…you might not live long but at least you will have –learned- something-”

‘Is he saying I’m stupid?!’ Kagome shut out what ever else he was saying, and came up with a very brave, very rash, plan to escape. While Naraku was busy talking about himself and how the whole world should love him for what he was doing, Kagome focused all of her energy to her hands. She was going to give him a blast he likely wouldn’t forget.

Suddenly she noticed he stopped talking and was eyeing her suspiciously. He knew she was up to something, but wasn’t going to try and stop her. ‘She can’t get away, there is no where for her to go,’ he smirked to himself.

Naraku suddenly realized what she was going to do, and that it was going to hurt. His eyes widened in disbelief and he took a step forward to try and stop her, but she had already saved up enough energy to buy her a few seconds to run. She blasted him, sent him hurtling backwards a few feet, and took off running in the opposite direction.

‘Oh man,’ she thought as she ran, ‘that really was stupid. I don’t even know where I am or where to go!’

But Kagome continued to run as fast as she could in any direction that took her far away from Naraku. It wasn’t long before the dead trees and dirt around her began to melt away to grass and beautiful lush trees. She took a quick look behind her and ran straight into something very hard, and very solid.

She fell on her butt and sat still for a moment to regain stability before looking up, only to meet none other than the more deadly and fiercer gaze of Sesshoumaru.

“Oh crap,” she mumbled to herself. She punched the ground and immediately regretted it, because now her hand hurt.

((“Kagome, you can’t run forever!”)) Naraku was gaining on her, there was no way he would let her get away with the Jewel in her possession.

‘Wait,’ she thought to herself, ‘I can make this work to my advantage! I just hope he doesn’t kill me!’

Kagome leapt up and hid behind Sesshoumaru, who looked at her like she was crazy, like she was a roach that willingly scuttled into the roach motel for a slow and painful death. Kagome looked up at him with an apologetic smile.

“I’m just full of surprises, you know… heh.”

He wanted to kill her, and she knew it, but was spared from sudden death by Naraku, who burst through the bushes and stopped right in front of Sesshoumaru.

Naraku smiled to himself as he looked at Kagome, who was peering around Sesshoumaru’s shoulder.

“You run from one danger to another, my dear Kagome. You really could use some of those life lessons I was talking about.”

Kagome stuck her tongue out at him and hid back behind Sesshoumaru.

‘Okay, now to actually make this work,’ she thought. She searched for a hiding place, found the safest one and cringed. ‘Oh man, I can’t believe I’m going to do this!’

Sesshoumaru’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second and he whirled around on Kagome, who made herself as small as possible, weakly smiled and waved a little bit.

Sesshoumaru was now curios as to why she would do something as stupid as she’d just done, so instead of killing her he picked her up and tossed her a few feet away from him.

“You’d better hope I’m pleased with what you’re offering me, Naraku. This is the last chance you will get.”

“Of course, Lord Sesshoumaru.”

Kagome and Naraku watched as he quietly walked away from them, soon to disappear out of sight. Naraku smiled satisfactorily, and Kagome looked like a deer caught in headlights.

Naraku yanked Kagome to him by her shoulder, then hit her hard enough to black her out for hours.

* * * *

When Kagome awoke she was in a small, cold and dark room. She wasn’t chained to anything so she was free to move around and check out her surroundings.

The entire room was made of stone, and one corner smelt of death so it went unexplored. Kagome sighed and sat in a corner opposite the ‘corner of the death smell’ to think.

‘Now at least Naraku can’t have what he naturally kidnapped me for in the first place… but what is he going to do to me when he finds out?’

She traced her finger on the floor and contemplated what would happen, but was snapped from her thoughts when the door opened and a few candelabras lit to reveal Naraku staring down at her manically.

He walked over to her and pulled her up so her feet were off the ground. He laughed in her face then got very close.

“You’ve done it again, Kagome. Good job. Now WHERE IS THE JEWEL?!”

****

A: Oh the drama! Oh the pain! Oh the lack of strawberry-and-whipped-cream-smothered-funnel-cake!